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Cultural differences abound as French president Nicolas Sarkozy spent all of 30 minutes with his wife Carla Bruni and their newborn daughter Giulia. And even though poor Carla has been dying for a cigarette or a drink in the last months of her pregnancy, she has nevertheless dedicated herself to breastfeeding little Giulia. But Sarkozy has described the practice as a “slavery” that he is relieved to not be a part of.
Sarkozy recently attended a family benefits agency in western France and when chatting with some young mothers, he shared how great it is that Carla wants to breastfeed. Yet, he never so much as lifts a finger himself to help her:
“Carla is feeding the baby. I think it’s much better for protecting against allergies and illnesses. But the woman, it’s both a joy and a kind of slavery. However it does free men of blame because we don’t have the problem of bottle-feeding. You don’t have to get up at night, although out of solidarity, I do open one eye…But you know, she is worried about not having enough milk.”
I would attribute some kind of inappropriate translation here for such a gross misstep, but make no mistake about it. “Esclavage” in French directly translate to “slavery.” While I can parse out the President’s reasoning in coupling both joy and extreme frustration in feeding a newborn, his word choice is pretty clumsy and obscenely offensive. And whether he meant his line about opening an eye in solidity to be cute or not, the image of any mother tending to her screaming infant with a partner who never helps isn’t exactly hilarious. Forgive me if I don’t chuckle.
(photo: WENN)
Oh for goodness sake, lighten up a bit. go look up “slavery’ in your Merriam-Webster. Mine gives the first definition as “Drudgery, toil”. Do you think that breastfeeding is a walk in the garden? No. It takes effort and time. The second definition is “Submission to a dominating influence” – do I need to explain that one?
“the state of a person who is a chattel of another ” comes in third. I suppose it’s this definition that would be the one troubling you.
If his words were so offensive in French (you noted the direct translation but are you aware of the connotations of the word in French? Do you speak fluent French? If not then why criticize his choice of words as being clumsy?) don’t you think that one of the young mothers he was chatting to would have said so? People talk to him remarkably easily and if anyone was offended I’m sure she would have said.
It’s humorless, tight-lipped women like you that give American feminists a bad name…
174 days ago
[...] French President Nicolas Sarkozy says breastfeeding is like slavery and he’s relieved he doesn’t have to do it. Does this mean baby Giulia runs the house? [...]
Eh, his comment didn’t offend me. I doubt he was referring to breastfeeding and comparing it to slavery (as in the slavery of blacks in the US), but rather than the forced chore that you must perform by the little dictator who for about a year has control of your boobs. My 4 kids were all breastfed, 3 exclusively until at least 11 months. 1st to 9 months (tho supplemented w/formula), 2nd to 11 months (he weaned himself to whole milk), 3rd to 13 months and 4th to 18 months. It IS a chore. Sure I chose to do it and wouldn’t have changed that. But when they refuse to take a bottle it’s like having something chained to your tits as often as they demand 24/7. Being a stay-at-home mom, I didn’t expect my husband to get up at night, since he was the one who left early for work, while I could lay back down when the baby was napping or when my older kids napped. I actually just learned to get by on about 6 hours of sleep.
174 days ago
[...] the quote from M Zarkozy that has some nipples in a knot: Mr Sarkozy aired his views on breastfeeding while chatting to young mothers at a family benefits [...]